


web of space

by j_sq



Series: there was an idea [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Reality, Gen, Introspection, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-11
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-11 03:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15963608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j_sq/pseuds/j_sq
Summary: Peter Parker has always been there- in every world, in every universe, he's there.A study into Peters of alternate universes.





	web of space

**Author's Note:**

> This...
> 
> I wrote this a while ago, and it came out well, I think. 
> 
> Drop a comment if you like!

 

 

In every universe, Peter Parker is a figment of some sort. It's an irrevocable truth that whispers in the crevices of every reality whether the times are in the 60s or in the 2000s, whether Peter’s a Parker or a Stark, whether he’s a blossoming scientist or a sharp tongued law student.

There's one that's original, clear, the basis, or prime, as one could refer it to as. It’s familiar, bright, optimistic and it’s the foundation for every other Peter. In it, Peter is fifteen when he is bitten by a spider at OsCorp Labs, an awkward nerd, and he uses his powers for money at first. Then, uncle Ben dies and Peter dons the iconic webbed suit a month after he gets his powers and that’s that.

 

Most times, Ben dying is the only constant that binds them all in one collage of existence.

He falls in love multiple times, only gets married once, but it’s destroyed in a cruel twist of fate. Peter dies once in another's body, but he rebounds, just as quippy, sarcastic and bright as ever. He fights small scale, then big picture, but it all winds together into one base, one almost perfect reality.

Some could argue that it’s the most optimal one, the one where everything falls into place.

 

In another world, Peter never is able to go on the OsCorp trip because of a nasty case of the flu. He sits in his bed, soup scalding his throat, and reads science journals while the spider is swatted by a nearby tour guide.

Ben still dies, but the guilt is replaced with utmost sadness and it weighs heavily in Peter’s chest. Life goes on though, and Peter eventually goes to Cornell and becomes renowned for being a brilliant biochemist.

 

One time, Peter dies in Gwen’s arms as the hood of webbing is draped over her birch white suit. The tears stain the inside of her mask, and sting of salt on her lips. She eventually becomes a hero of her own right, perching whenever the duskiness burns the sky into a deep violet.

 

There’s another where Peter is born about fifteen years earlier. Instead of science, he gets caught up the law and  making things _right,_  even more so after his uncle’s blood paints the inside of his wrists and ends up going to Columbia Law School. He's paired up with a blind, witty redhead and a smart mouthed blonde in a debate, and they become a twisted, tightly wound trio of best friends.

They open a law firm, _Nelson, Murdock and Parker_ and quickly become known for their unfailing morals and genuinity. Most days though, it’s just Peter trying to laugh at whatever bad joke Foggy has made up, with Matt looking slightly perplexed, but immeasurably fond, Karen in the doorway, fighting tears of laughter. There are days stained with despair, days that trickle with blackness, but in some way it all fits.

Peter’s not Spider-Man, but Matt’s still got his uncanny, heightened senses.

 

_(They know Matt’s Daredevil. It’s just a question of when.)_

 

In a few universes, Peter's a bright eyed Piper, still awkward, still brilliant, but gracefully swinging her way into the city as Spider-Woman. At least, that's what she thinks; the media smudges her image into Spider- Girl.

 

Sometimes, Peter is still a Piper, but she realizes later that she can’t be anymore. Sometimes, it’s as young as six, when he dons a pair of ripped jeans and an old Voltron t-shirt to picture day. Others he’s in his teens, trying to fight his way into a judging, presumptuous world.

Most of them, he’s still undoubtedly Spider-Man.

 

One universe, he’s an illegitimate child of a famous entrepreneur and he’s the disgrace of the media. He’s rebellious, and shuts himself off, constructing a fortress around his icy heart. When Peter’s Spider-Man, he sneaks out into the bowels of the city,  where the moon is a bit paler, where the buildings seem to be more oppressing. He fights for others who can’t, of course, letting blood stain his suit, while he pretends it isn’t there. But mostly, he fights to redeem himself in the world’s eyes.

 

In some, he’s not brilliant, simply awkward. Others he’s the most popular kid in school, subjected to peer pressure, doing things that his heart screams at him for doing. Sometimes, there’s a minute shift, and something as trivial as his eye color’s different. Sometimes they’re a warm brown, sometimes a belligerent blue, sometimes a kind green.

 

Sometimes, he’s not upstanding with responsibility to do whatever's right. Sometimes, Peter’s dishonest, crude, and selfish, doing things, using his ability to satisfy his own needs. He’s not a webbed hero that swings over the city; he’s the sneaky street spider who’s always looking to make some quick cash.

 

Others Peter dies a violent death, eyes unseeing into the blue crispness of the sky. Then a young teen takes over the mantle,  donning black and red webbing that catches the faint sun rays of the dying day.

 

Then there are peculiar realities that seem to only have the skeleton of the original Peter. One universe he’s a test subject in 1960s for  a genetically modified serum that is combined with spider DNA. Peter’s the only successful result and becomes an extremely effective spy. His name is whispered, a legend, and he’s almost falsified into a complete myth.

 

One time, he and Tony Stark switch places, and in others he’s a shy scientist with anger management issues. In yet another, he wields magic and is the youngest Sorcerer Supreme.  

 

One universe, if it even counts, hangs on the fringes. In that, Peter has a different name, but is still an orphan. He’s got dark hair and brilliant sapphire eyes and wears a plume of dark blue on his costume’s chest. He’s not Peter exactly, but his soul dances with Peter’s original existence, teetering between completely different and somewhat similar.

 

In a majority of the universes, wherever Peter is, Spider-Man is right alongside him. He’s Peter’s more open half, outspoken, agile, witty and ridiculously irritating to his enemies. Some could argue he’s an antithesis, some say he’s just more of a projection of what Peter represses inside.

If Spider-Man is not there, it isn’t completely sour. Sometimes Peter finds freedom elsewhere, whether it’s in a passionate relationship, or a rewarding career, or a few trustworthy friends.

But those are just alternatives. Spider- Man in a sense has become more of Peter than Peter himself. The process of merging is gradual, but at some point Spider-Man echoes in Peter’s mind even more so than his own thoughts.

 

Spider-Man’s a drug, an intoxication, a responsibility, a privilege, just an umbrella of so many things.

 

In the universes where Peter is dead early, not as Spider-Man, but simply as Peter, the world creates a negative space where he should have been. There’s an indescribable emptiness; it’s not monumental, but simply unsatisfying. New York will still fend off Doctor Octopus and Rhino with the Avengers, but something is _missing,_ and it's quietly obvious.

 

There is one universe that blooms, almost as an afterthought to the basis. Peter’s still fifteen when he’s bitten by the spider, and he still undergoes that constant cycle of Ben dying and him learning responsibility. He’s still Spider-Man, but he’s also Peter, more so that the others, for some reason. He’s younger in every way, excluding age, and it’s refreshing, almost. May’s almost his sister and mother, overbearing, vibrant, happy.

He meets Iron Man a few months later, and he’s dragged into a war that usually he’d be avoiding. But Peter doesn't know better. He goes to  a high school of people that are intelligent in every sense of the word.

He gets into even more trouble, if that makes any sense, and is surprisingly more bright witticisms than dry humor. He’s just a bright, shining, optimistic light that looks for goodness, looks for the right thing to do.

Peter doesn’t grow up as fast in this one.

He melts away into dust, broken words in his mouth, hands knuckled into chipped, burnt armor. A cry ravages his throat and he is no more.

 

Of course, this universe is only one of many others like itself. It even sprouts a few of its own. In one, May is hit by a drunk driver, and he is sent to live with Tony Stark. He’s depressed for what seems like eternity, and almost drowns in his own biting grief. In another, he doesn’t attend a specialized science high school, and in others he still does but lives in another borough. In yet another, he falls hard for his best friend, falls hard for Lego sets and big hearts and peanut butter tasting kisses.

 

It’s an afterthought again, but it’s a fallback. A tweak, but a reminder that the original was almost, not quite the inspiration,  but the origin. It’s a renew, a revival, but is in itself a reimagining of what may have been.

 

Isn’t that what all of them are though? May-have-been, has-beens, could-bes, the results of choices, or events that spin into a spiral so completely original that’s it’s interesting to draw the parallels, see the path it took to become the universe it is. The patchwork is littered with different possibilities, the outcomes of choices that are either so trivial it detracts nothing, or so instrumental that it changes absolutely everything.

 

But in the end, they are all reflections.

 

They are all Peters.

 

They are all intertwined with one another, fates and characteristics overlapping, each universe housing a unique boy that could or couldn’t grow up. One that could or couldn’t have been outfitted with the responsibility of a lifetime.

One that, in every single universe, has the potential, however small to do something worthwhile.

In some, to do something truly extraordinary.

 


End file.
